We witnessed the next superstar of British boxing on Saturday night. A 19-year-old from Chatham in Kent, 6ft 4in tall, with a lightning left hand.
There are myriad stories of Moses Itauma running out after school, aged 15 and 16, to spar with the biggest heavyweights in the country. It beggars belief, but it is fact not fiction.
Remove the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury showdown from the weekend’s fistic revelry in Riyadh, and there was just one other figure with a huge spotlight beaming down on him in the ring: Itauma, the cool teenage heavyweight seen as the rising star of the division, known to every fighter in the division, and especially those over 30. He really could be very special indeed.
We have not seen him in trouble, under pressure, in a ring yet, but everything else about the young man points to potential greatness, wealth, fame, or wherever the fight game takes him. It is also an incredible time to be involved in the blue-riband division. Itauma may just have the perfect storm around him.
Father time waits for no-one in sport, let alone boxing, and there was no missing the moment the audience truly gasped at inside the Kingdom Arena as they witnessed neophyte Itauma knocking out Australian Demsey McKean in the first round (watch video below). To put it in context, 34-year McKean was expected to stretch Itauma to some extent.
Yet here was Itauma’s ninth knockout in 11 contests. This was meant to be a step up in class for ‘Rico’, as he is known, but a dip of the right shoulder, twice, and two massive overhand lefts – he is a southpaw stance operator – and it was curtains for McKean.
The entire division put on notice. So too Turki Al-Alsheikh, the Saudi minister at the helm of the boxing boom in Saudi Arabia. It had caught his eye, dramatically, and Al-Alsheikh tweeted yesterday: “I think Itauma has great potential in the future and I hope to see him the youngest heavyweight champion of the world…”
Let me spell this out: Itauma – born in Slovakia in the town of Kežmarok to a Nigerian father and Slovakian mother, but who moved to Chatham 11 years ago due to suffering racism there – is only 19. He is 20 years old on December 28.
When he joined the professional ranks, in January 2023 aged 18, under promoter Frank Warren and managed by his son, Francis Warren, the fanfare was that here was a kid who might be able to become the youngest heavyweight world champion, surpassing a record which many believed would never be broken: that of Mike Tyson aged 20 years, 4 months and 22 days.
Itauma has until May 2025 to complete the feat, which, if he does so, would entail fighting, at present, Oleksandr Usyk, Daniel Dubois or Joseph Parker.
It is highly unlikely, but, potentially, if Itauma continues to destroy opponents as he has done, a belt could be his by the end of next year. And if Turki wants to make it happen, the sport’s influential powerbroker can underwrite it.
Incidentally, second and third youngest to the accolade were Floyd Patterson – 21 years, 10 months – and Muhammad Ali – 22 years and eight days. Itauma will certainly challenge those records.
Itauma’s biggest stumbling block is the tried-and-trusted climb up the ladder. They will say it is too soon, that he needs graduations. That he may be capable of beating those above him in the rankings but he needs the rounds. Eight-rounders; 10-rounders; 12-rounders. But once Itauma is up there, there is no coming back.
Ben Davison – trainer to Anthony Joshua and ertswhile mentor of Tyson Fury – is overseeing his progress. There will come a time, and it may be in 2025. But timing is everything. One thing’s for sure, Itauma, both physically and mentally, is way beyond his years and I’ve seen him grow up dramatically in the two years I have known him.
He has a relaxed temperament and is quite bemused by all the attention. He certainly loves fighting, having taken it up aged nine at St Marys Amateur Boxing Club in Chatham, after finding football “boring”.
I call him ‘The Takeover’. There are myriad stories of his talent on display in sparring with Fury, Lawrence Okolie, Joe Joyce and others. He is ranked as the No 10 heavyweight in the UK and No 40 in the world by boxing’s independent rankings, and was well-schooled through the amateur ranks. He had an unbeaten amateur career, turning professional with a record of 24 wins with 11 by knockout. He claimed gold medals in Schools, Juniors, Youth European and the Heavyweight Youth World Gold Medal.
As a professional, awkward journeymen and older heavyweights have already suffered via his rapier left hand, power and fast feet for a big man.
It’s not unthinkable that Itauma will come to the fore in 2025, and as Fury and Joshua depart into the wings we will see the crowning of the new king of British heavyweight boxing next year. Arise Moses Itauma.
